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LEAGUE 46
88
Submissions
9
Players
387
Total Points
League Champion
revleitner56
total points
★ Highest Scoring Song
11
points
NPR CULTURE DESK
The Music of Collective Judgment: A League 46 Retrospective
What 9 people chose, over 5 rounds, says something about who we are and what we're reaching for.
Ira Goldstein · Music League Culture Desk | League 46 Report
There is something worth pausing on at the conclusion of League 46. Across 5 rounds and 88 submitted songs, 9 participants in the same ongoing conversation about taste — about what music means when it's placed in competition with itself — arrived at a verdict. revleitner, with 56 points, carried the argument most convincingly. It came down to a tie at the top.
Consider "Donnie Darko" by Let's Eat Grandma, submitted by Carrie. A song that earned 11 points is, in this context, a song the group agreed on. Agreement, in music, is rarer than it sounds. The song offered something that the room was ready to receive.
"I'll guess Eric on this one since I believe Shirley is a huge Swing Out Sister fan"
jsexe on Breakout by Swing Out Sister · Eric's Theme - It’s a Family Affair: Part II
The "Fitz's Theme - Whatever suits you" theme, won by revleitner with "Deadbeat Club" by The B-52's, is a useful lens for the season as a whole. "Amy's Theme - Somewhere Beyond the Sea" went to Jaso(n) with "Walk On the Ocean" by Toad The Wet Sprocket (8 pts). And for "Eric's Theme - It’s a Family Affair: Part II" went to Carrie with "Donnie Darko" by Let's Eat Grandma (11 pts). Each round is a small referendum on the group's collective memory.
Movement in the rankings saw revleitner climbed 5 spots and jsexe slipped 6 spots.
Genre-wise, new wave dominated, with britpop close behind. Nostalgia for the 1990s ran deep throughout. These aren't just data points. They're choices, which is to say, they're values.
League 46 is complete. revleitner won. The playlist remains. And the conversation, as it always does, continues into League 47.